Nanci Graves, Kobe Steel International Communication Program Email: nanci@gol.com
3 Credits for practicum for Group 17 onwards.
Practicum (II) - not for Group 21 (those starting Spring 2007 may register, but not recommended).
Prerequisites: A&HT4077 Classroom Practices
Pass/Fail (Option for LG)
Advisement note: This course is best taken with a 1 credit methods workshop - choose at least one from the Media, Global Issues or Young Learners etc. workshops. Also, those students from Group 21 who started in Spring 2007 are eligible to do this course, but it is not advisable - please try to do your practica later in the program. You may do one of the workshops if you want.
| Dates | Time |
|---|---|
| September: Sun. 2nd, 23rd October: Sun. 14th December: Sun. 2nd, 9th January: Sun. 13th |
Sundays: 10-5pm |
This course will cover the development of spoken communication skills in EFL contexts from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives. It will provide an overview of speaking-focused teaching strategies, ways of exploiting assigned materials to increase opportunities for spoken production and methods of assessment. Other major topics to be explored during the course will include the development of enabling and self-monitoring skills, the use of spoken English in the L2 classroom, cooperative learning through peer and group interaction, and the teacher's role in speaking classes.
As well as group discussion of these issues, participants will have numerous opportunities to take part in a range of speaking activities in order to analyze their effectiveness from the perspective of the learner. Specific activities will involve conversation, role play, drama, and presentations. Although the focus will be on spoken production, we will also consider how the use of other media can help to create conditions in the classroom that motivate learners and support their development of oral skills. Emphasis will also be placed on the participants' own creation of speaking materials, which will be analyzed and further developed through micro-teaching.
During the course, participants will be asked to investigate an area of speaking of interest to them in their current classes. They will design and implement an action research plan and give regular reports on progress, problems and issues that arise. For this purpose, they will be required to find theoretical sources related to their area of research and to keep an action-research journal detailing what is happening in their classrooms. This will form the basis for the end of term report that will describe the status of their research, outcomes of their personal innovations and suggestions for future directions.
Before the beginning of the course, please write a short essay describing your teaching situation and how you approach speaking activities in your classes. Please bring a hard copy of your essay to the first class and send an electronic version afterwards.
To Be Announced
Bailey, K. M., & Savage, L. (1994). New ways in teaching speaking. Alexandria, VA: TESOL
Brown, G. & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the spoken language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byrne, D. (1987). Techniques for classroom interaction. Harlow, Essex: Longman.
Dornyei, Z. & Thurrell, S. (1992). Conversation and dialogues in action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hadfield, J. (1990). Intermediate communication games. Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Hadfield, J. (1992). Classroom dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hughes, R. (2002). Teaching and researching speaking. New York: Longman.
Johnson, K.E. (1995). Understanding communication in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Klippel, F. (1987). Keep Talking: Communicative fluency activities for language teaching. New York: Cambridge Handbook for Language Teachers.
Kluge, D. et al. (Eds.) (1999). Cooperative learning. Tokyo: JALT.
Nunan, D. (1992). Collaborative language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. & Lockhart, C. (1996). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge: CUP.
Ur, P. (1992). Five-minute activities: A resource book of short activities. Cambridge: Cambridge Handbook for Language Teachers.
Wenden, A. & Rubin, J. (1987). Learner strategies in language learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Nanci Graves has taught at various schools in Japan over the past twenty years, including SIMUL Academy, Obirin University, and International Christian University. She is currently teaching full-time at Kobe Steel's in-house English training program. During two lengthy breaks from Japan, she completed an M.A. in Applied Linguistics at Reading University in the U.K. and later worked as an academic course coordinator for SUNY at Buffalo's undergraduate program in Malaysia. She started teaching workshop and practicum courses at Teachers College in 1988 (on several occasions co-teaching with Dr. John Fanselow) and served as the TC Program Coordinator from 1990 to 1993. Recently, she has pursued research in teacher and learner autonomy, reflection and motivation.